the time between rulers; a space between; the gap after one epoch ends and another begins; the tumultuous and exciting period after scholarly boundaries become fluid and before new academic disciplines are fully defined; the blog of New York University's Draper Program

AESS 2015 Conference – Call for Proposals Now Open!

We are pleased to invite you to submit a proposal to lead a session at the 2015 annual meeting of the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS) held on 24-27 June 2015 at University of California at San Diego!

AESS is now accepting proposals for individual paper and poster presentations, as well as proposals for full panels, workshops, discussion symposia, and mealtime roundtables in which all (or a substantial number of) scholars have already agreed to participate (see descriptions below). AESS will make every effort to group individual presentations together as thematic sessions.

Proposal Deadline: January 16, 2015.

CONFERENCE THEME

The theme for the conference is “Confronting Frontiers, Borders, and Boundaries.” The conference theme will allow AESS to showcase its interdisciplinary strengths on this vitally important topic, including such issues as transboundary pollution, environmental equity and representation, international connections and collaborations, and teaching across disciplines. In addition, the theme and location of the conference offer a chance to examine the health of our oceans and the role of California and other laboratories for innovative environmental policymaking.

Questions to be explored include:

What are the roles of the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences in helping to confront boundaries and borders that impede our ability to address serious environmental problems? How can interdisciplinary fields such as Environmental Studies and Environmental Sciences contribute effectively to these endeavors?

Trans-border problems are frequently connected to questions of equity and social justice. What new perspectives help us address these questions across different scales or types of borders?

What is being explored with regard to environmental degradation issues, such as air pollution and water pollution, that are trans-boundary and trans-border? Are there any updates, for example, on characterizing the long-range transport of air pollution, such as urban air pollution across the North Pacific, or African dust across the Atlantic? Are there case studies of marine ecosystem pollution and mitigation, and trans-border watershed ecology?

What is the current status of international collaborations on investigating environmental problems on a regional and global scale, such as joint field projects or workshops?

What should the dialogue with our students and the general public look like in discussing border and boundary issues?

What pedagogical approaches are most effective in discussing these issues?

How can we partner with communities, governments, NGOs, the media, to generate more effective frameworks and solutions to addressing boundary and border challenges?

As always, we invite proposals that speak to the conference theme or otherwise advance the mission of AESS: to encourage interdisciplinary approaches to environmental research, teaching, and problem-solving.